


Lost It

by CorsetJinx



Category: Final Fantasy X-2
Genre: F/F, dressphere complications, side-effects
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 05:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5992509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorsetJinx/pseuds/CorsetJinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rikku’s reckless sometimes, but not like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost It

It was known that there could be side effects to using the dresspheres. Yuna’s little dancing episode in Luca, and the odd dreams the former summoner had experienced afterwards, pretty much confirmed that. If she were willing to broach the topic, Paine might have admitted to feeling something herself after spending a few days or weeks trying to master the skills of a particular sphere.

Maybe not something as vivid was lucid dreams or uncontrollable dancing - small snippets of images or sensations was more the norm. It was something she could live with, for the most part.

But some of the dresspheres were… different.

The Berserker dressphere, as she was finding out, might deserve to be in a class all its own.

Stepping past Yuna’s pacifying form, not really caring whether the brunette tried to stop her with the added boost of a Thief’s agility, and inserted herself into Rikku’s personal space. The blonde girl was still twitchy, fabricated claws moving as if she still wanted to have a bout, her swirl-pupiled green eyes darting over anything that might present even a small threat.

Or entertainment.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Anger, and more than a little bit of concern, made her raise her voice beyond its usual threshold. The Al Bhed’s eyes snap to her immediately, narrowing in a way that seems both disturbing and familiar. “Have you lost your damn _mind!?_ You don’t go running out into a pack of Coeurl just for kicks, Rikku - I don’t care what sort of chance it is to learn more about that sphere. If Yuna and I hadn’t gotten in there you could have - “

“Could’ve _what_ , huh?” She’s never seen Rikku sneer before and it’s an ugly expression on the normally cheerful sphere hunter’s face. The girl’s lips continue to twist, smirking now even though the predatory light in her eyes hasn’t changed a bit. “You gonna say that I was _holding you back_ , Paine? That I should’ve stayed back like a _good little girl_ and let you and Yunie have all the _fun_?”

Rikku jerked her chin up, glaring now and all defiant - angry and baring her teeth. Her voice lowered and even without looking Paine sensed Yuna’s uneasy shift at the bitterness in her cousin’s tone. “Why is it that whenever we go on an adventure, I’m always the one that gets treated like they’re useless? You,” she raised a paw, jabbing at the air between them, “always say that the path of least resistance is to cut through! I’m only doing what you always do - or are you just scared I’m doing it _better_?”

She refused to take a step back when Rikku stepped closer - and if not for the difference in height they might have been nose-to-nose. The blonde’s breath was hot, coming slightly too quick and it smelled vaguely sickly sweet - reminding her of the potions Yuna had forced down her cousin’s throat after they’d beaten the Coeurl.

“Get back, Rikku.” She made the warning obvious, just short of a blaring neon trail left by the Celsius’ engines in the sky.

“What, you gonna make me?” The skin around Rikku’s eyes curved, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes - smile itself all teeth. “You gonna _hurt_ me, Dr. P?”

“Enough!” Yuna’s arms, surprisingly strong, came between them and forced them apart. The bow-sleeves of her Thief’s dressphere had always struck Paine as slightly ridiculous, but it didn’t take anything from the sternness of the brunette’s expression. 

“Yuna - “

“ _Don’t_ touch me Yunie - “

“I said **_enough!_** ” Yuna hardly ever raised her voice, too polite by half and maybe that’s why it worked when she finally did.

Silence, tense and amazingly uncommon between the three of them, dominated the room. Then, Yuna took a slow breath.

“Rikku, take the dressphere off. You don’t need it on the Celsius.” The taller girl’s voice had returned to its quiet pitch, though strain managed to creep through the former summoner’s control.

“You take yours off, Yunie. And Paine.” The last part was spat, vitriol she might have expected from Brother after he’d been denied a chance to test his toys on something.

“Fine.” A touch, a flash of light and electricity, and Paine was left in her usual day-clothes. Yuna stood much the same, the odd symbol that seemed so important to her like a char on the whiteness of her shirt.

Rikku glared at them both now, growling out something in Al Bhed that Yuna only seemed to half understand.

Paine, however, got every bit.

Before she gave in to the impulse of simply forcing the Garment Grid off, Rikku did it herself - without the horns and tattoos of the Berserker active she seemed out of sorts - smaller, but no less of a person.

“I’m not saying sorry.” The blonde ground out in the common dialect of Spira, petulant as a child and… hurt?

“Rikku..”

“You aren’t useless.” Cutting across Yuna, ignoring the way the other girl shifted, Paine continued, “Stop thinking that. You’re Rikku and the Gullwings need you. We - I… need you.” Her voice wavered a bit at the end, discomfort creeping up from the depths she usually shoved aside and didn’t think about.

Yuna was staring at her, she was pretty sure.

Rikku definitely was, tanned face caught between remnants of her anger and hurt, and perhaps wanting to believe that she wasn’t a tag along in this.

“You don’t mean that.” Tossing her head to the side, braids clinking gently as colored beads collided with one another, Rikku directed her gaze everywhere, anywhere, else.

“I do.” It wasn’t as hard as she’d thought, to get the words out. But that didn’t make it easy, either. “Without you, we’d be lost.”

Yuna might’ve nodded, but Paine could easily picture her wringing her hands. It was Yuna, after all.

“Yeah, whatever. I’m gonna grab a shower.” Rikku kept her face turned away when she passed, ducking out of the way when she started to reach for her arm. The blonde grabbed her favorite towel - fluffy and yellow, a Cait Sith stitched into one corner that might’ve been Lulu’s needlework - and made for the door, hesitating just as it hissed open.

_“Dryhg oui.”_

She almost didn’t catch it, but then Rikku was out the door and didn’t come back for another hour.

**Author's Note:**

> * Dryhg oui means “thank you”.


End file.
